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The importance of frequent tape deck exeercise.

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Posted on November 21, 2014 at 06:16:29
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 I was at a friend's house yesterday and we attempted to play a tape on his Otari MXX5050 BII. The tape broke (it was an elderly acetate type) and we should have stopped right there. But we continued to try until stopped dead by a puff of smoke.

The tape deck owner summers in Maine and the Otari hadn't been run since spring although it worked perfectly before that. Just another reminder that these complex electromechanical beasts need frequent exercise to stay in playable shape. Not a problem for me since I use my own Otari almost every day and my back-up Teac at least every couple of weeks.

Just a word to the wise.

 

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I like to use my tape decks so much..., posted on November 21, 2014 at 13:43:44
Skylab
Audiophile

Posts: 1109
Location: Chicagoland
Joined: August 8, 2003
 ...that I'm more worried about head wear! But your point is an excellent one.
Rob

"Let there be songs, to fill the air"

 

RE: The importance of frequent tape deck exeercise., posted on November 21, 2014 at 16:17:33
Inmate51
 Dave, yours is an anecdotal story.

Let's review: You played a tape on a deck which hadn't been used in several months. Then, the deck died.

Your assumption is that the failure was because it hadn't been used in several months.

You have zero evidence that the failure was due to lack of use.

The deck could have just as easily failed after daily use. There's no way to know.

:)

 

RE: The importance of frequent tape deck exeercise., posted on November 21, 2014 at 16:33:57
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 Yep, anecdotal. Let's hear yours, with all the scientific evidence you can muster. I'm sure it will be very convincing. No anecdotes, please.

 

RE: The importance of frequent tape deck exeercise., posted on November 21, 2014 at 17:01:49
Tony Lauck
Audiophile

Posts: 13629
Location: Vermont
Joined: November 12, 2007
 You could be right, but your argument is foolish because you could also be wrong.

From time to time, I am given archival tapes to transfer to digital. In between my Nak CR-7 sits idle. When I get a job to do, do you think that the first tape I put into the deck is the rare tape to be archived? You have to be kidding! The first thing I do is to put into the deck a tape that I don't care about that sounded good the last time I played it. If it plays without drama and sounds good only then do I put in the rare archival tape.

It is possible that the old acetate tape in question turned to "dust" through the ravages of time and, perhaps, a poor storage environment. Of course were this to be the case, it would only be "anecdotal", a total cop-out phrase in my opinion. It is a phrase used by the non-discerning to dismiss in a dogmatic fashion the very clues that might enable them to advanced to be better world-view. But I know that acetate tapes can turn to dust, because I have several 4 track pre-recorded tapes that turned to dust as could be seen while threading the takeup reel on my R2R deck before I even pressed play and I could care less whether you believe me or not. I also know that tape decks have rubber parts that degrade over time and this can account for unreliable operation after a period of storage. (This is a particular failing of early Nak CR-7's that didn't have the rubber idler replaced by a gear mechanism.)








Tony Lauck

"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar

 

RE: I like to use my tape decks so much..., posted on November 21, 2014 at 17:56:23
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 I hear you. Since virtually all tape decks are decades old, you're better off treating them with kindness and respect. By "exercising" I don't mean going crazy with fast-forward and rewind, or even spending much time (and head wear) in the process. Speaking of head wear, I'm fortunate in my Otari's ease of replacing the headstack and, more important, the fact that minimum-wear headstacks are still freely and FAIRLY inexpensively available on eBay. Which is why I have three of them, none of which is even close to needing a relap :-)

 

RE: The importance of frequent tape deck exeercise., posted on November 21, 2014 at 18:08:36
Inmate51
 Hey Tony, my point wasn't with regard to the tape. It was with regard to the tape deck "puff of smoke". These are two separate issues.

Acetate tape, fortunately, breaks cleanly, making it easy to repair, unlike polyester/Mylar tape, which can stretch an inch of tape into a foot of tape. Acetate tape, being obviously old (at least about 50 years) is subject to becoming brittle and easily broken on a machine which isn't "gentle" to it.

The cause of the break could easily be the deck's brakes or tension control, or it could be the electronics which control the brakes or tension control.

In either case, the fact that the deck released its smoke may or may not be related to the brake electronics, and may be something completely unrelated. We do not have enough information to know, at this point.

:)

 

"All tape decks are virtually decades old", posted on November 22, 2014 at 07:04:54
Grant99
Audiophile

Posts: 304
Location: Toronto
Joined: April 6, 2000
 Actually, my Otari MX-5050 is now a grand 6 years old. Bought it new in 2008. So there!

Well, you guys were complaining about not enough posting activity in the tape forum...

cheers
Grant

 

RE: "All tape decks are virtually decades old", posted on November 22, 2014 at 08:17:10
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 11689
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
 One of the few exceptions, and in production STILL. when I queried them last year, the Otari rep said they still built 6-10 new MX5050 models each year. Had a few in stock, too, ranging from something like $8,500 to $9,500 depending on whether they offered four-track playback in addition to the normal two-track record/play. Enjoy yours. I'm envious.

 

Actually..., posted on November 23, 2014 at 10:16:48
Inmate51
What Dave Pogue said was: "...virtually all tape decks...".

He did NOT say "all tape decks".

That's an important difference.

When one thinks about the huge numbers of tape decks sold new from the 1950s to the 1980s, and the relatively minute number sold after the 1980s, "virtually all" pretty well sums it up.


 

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